New Survey Reveals Continued Consumer Intolerance with eCommerce Failures
42% of Online Consumers Abandon or Switch after Experiencing Online Transaction Issues; Another 52% Experienced Bad Customer Service at a Contact Center, Following an Online Issue, and Subsequently Stopped Doing Business with the Company Entirely
San Francisco, CA, September 17, 2007 - The results of a newly released consumer survey commissioned by Tealeaf®, a leader in Customer Experience Management software solutions, and conducted by Harris Interactive® reveals waves of consumer frustration with issues they are encountering when using ecommerce websites. For the third consecutive year, about nine out of 10 consumers conducting transactions online (87%) have experienced problems. This year's survey highlights online consumer intolerance, as 42% of those who have experienced problems when conducting online transactions have switched to a competitor or abandoned the transaction entirely, and another 52% who have experienced bad customer service from a company's contact center, following an online issue, have completely stopped doing business with the company.
eCommerce continues to grow — Forrester Research estimates 2007 online retail sales at $157.4 billion and expects this number to grow to $271.6 billion (or 9% of retail sales overall) by 2011 ("US Retail eCommerce Forecast", Forrester Research, Inc., 2006-2011, May 2007). But, this growth camouflages underlying issues. "We're in a 'perfect storm' as users' dependency on ecommerce grows and their patience for bad online experiences wears thin," said Rebecca Ward, CEO, Tealeaf. "More than a decade into ecommerce, we're increasingly savvy online consumers, and we're no longer willing to put up with experiences that do not live up to our expectations. Companies doing business online must pay attention to their customers' experiences and help them to succeed, or risk losing them entirely. The only way to understand issues, improve conversion rates and better serve customers is to have visibility into everything that happens on your online channel."
As problems persist, consumer backlash is permeating the online channel. A lowered cost of switching online merchants — alternate providers are just one click away — has radically changed shopping behavior. Often, companies are subjected to drastic consequences when they fail to deliver, illustrated by the 42% of online consumers who abandoned or switched to a competitor after transaction issues.
Failed transactions also have a significant impact on those consumers who do not immediately switch, but still try to buy from a company after experiencing them. 53% of online users with issues would contact customer service. Of those, almost half (49%) did not have their issue resolved. In fact, 68% of consumers did not feel that the service agent was knowledgeable about the website; and 70% did not believe the agent understood their particular issue.
Bad customer service received from contact centers led to a second wave of abandonment, resulting in major business impacts — about half of those who experienced bad customer service from a company's contact center decided to stop doing business with the company entirely (52%) and a full 76% either stopped doing business entirely, decreased the amount of business they do with the company, or lodged a complaint with the Better Business Bureau.
"The risk of abandonment is escalating not only after initial online transaction problems, but also for those who try to remain loyal, because contact centers are fundamentally ill-equipped because they lack the visibility to adequately address the concerns of website customers," said Ward.
Survey Methodology
Harris Interactive® fielded the online survey on behalf of Tealeaf Technology, Inc. between August 13 and August 21, 2007 among nationwide cross-sections of 2,420 adults aged 18+ in the United States who are online. The data were weighted to be representative of the total online U.S. adult population on the basis of region, age within gender, education, household income, and race/ethnicity. The data were weighted to be representative of the population of online adults in each country.
In theory, with probability samples of this size, one can say with 95 percent certainty that the results for the sample has a sampling error of plus or minus 2 percentage points. Sampling error for data based on sub-samples may be higher and would vary. This online sample is not a probability sample and therefore no theoretical sampling error can be calculated.
About Harris Interactive
Harris Interactive is the 13th largest and one of the fastest-growing market research firms in the world. The company provides innovative research, insights and strategic advice to help its clients make more confident decisions which lead to measurable and enduring improvements in performance. Harris Interactive is widely known for The Harris Poll, one of the longest running, independent opinion polls and for pioneering online market research methods. The company has built what it believes to be the world's largest panel of survey respondents, the Harris Poll Online. Harris Interactive serves clients worldwide through its North American, European and Asian offices, and through a global network of independent market research firms. More information about Harris Interactive may be obtained at www.harrisinteractive.com.
About Tealeaf
Tealeaf is the leading provider of online customer experience management solutions. Tealeaf's CX family of solutions provides unprecedented enterprise-wide visibility into every user's unique online interactions. This "360-degree view" of the online customer experience enables a clear and consistent understanding of the customer for Ebusiness, IT, customer service and legal and compliance executives and their organizations across a wide range of vertical industries including retail, banking, travel, insurance, telecommunications, pharmaceutical and transportation. Founded in 1999, Tealeaf is headquartered in San Francisco, California, and is privately-held. For more information, visit www.tealeaf.com.
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Tealeaf Technology: Shoshana Deutschkron
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shoshanad@tealeaf.com
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